Please can you suggest corrections to this blog post?

Around eight years ago, I was going through a bad patch, and in my infinite wisdom, I decided that I absolutely needed to have a dog to help me weather this difficult period.

Having read quite a bit about dog breeds on the internet, I felt immensely knowledgeable on the subject, and decided that doubtlessly, a Samoyed would be right the breed for me. So I just went, chose a puppy from a litter advertised by a "breeder" on a local paper, and took him home.

Around four months later, I noticed that Kovi was in continuous pain, and leaning against walls, as though he could not support his own weight. Kovi was around six months of age at the time. X-Rays revealed that he had severe hip dysplasia -on both hips. He was in so much pain, that the vet decided not to wait till he got slightly older to operate him, as would normally be advisable. So the vet first operated one hip, and a few weeks later the other.

Following that, Kovi started showing signs of severe aggression. I happened to find out that at least one of his siblings had exactly the same issues - hip dysplasia and aggression - and also got to know that at the time there was a whole crop of Samoyeds in Malta, all with hip dysplasia and with aggressive traits. Everyone advised me to put him down. I refused.

I learnt all I could about dogs and dog training from books. I took Kovi to a training school. I used to meet up with the chief instructor at the school almost on a daily basis, to learn as much as possible from him.

Everyone told me that because he was a Samoyed, and because of his problems, he would be impossible to train. Yet the only time I entered him in one of the Obedience competitions the club would organise, he won the competition. And he became substantially less aggressive.

Kovi is now over eight years. He does not walk well (you can see the defect in his back legs in the above photo). But he is alive, well, and happy.

I started this blog for a very simple reason. I wanted to share what I learnt about dogs, to help dogs and their masters enjoy their relationship to the full. I hope you enjoy this blog, and look forward to your comments and suggestions.